588 MR. D. G. ELLIOT ON THE GENUS PELECANUS. [Nov. 25, 
are white, with a few faint blotches of pale blue. The shell is 
thick and rough. The young are covered with down of a creamy 
colour, and are fed by their parents, at first with fish well mace- 
rated, but after they acquire more strength it is given to them 
entire. The flight of this bird is rather heavy, but well sustained, 
and they proceed by regular flappings and sailings. It is fond in 
warm, calm weather of rising high in the air, which is accomplished 
by wide circles, and then sailing for a considerable length of time. 
Their evolutions at such times are very beautiful. The flesh of 
this bird is tough and fishy, unfit for food, although the negroes 
are accustomed to eat the young. 
There is no difficulty in the synonymy of this species. 
PeLecanus MOLINE. (Plate XLIV.) 
Pelecanus thagus, Steph. Gen. Zool. vol. xiii. p. 117; Gmel. 
Syst. Nat. vol. i. p.577(1788); Molina, Chil. p. 212%; Gay, Hist. 
Chili, Zool. vol. 1. p. 494; Bonnat. Ency. Méth. Ornith. (1790) 
p- 46; Donnd. Ornith. Beitr. vol. i. pt. 1, p. 859. sp. 30. 
Onocratalus thagus, Bon. Consp. Gen. Av. vol. ii. p. 164 (18517). 
O. rostro denticulato, Briss. Orn. vol. vi. p. 523 A. 
Pélican @ bec dentelé, Buff. Hist. Nat. des Ois. 8. p. 309. 
Onocrotalus hernandezii, Wag). Isis (1832), p. 1233. sp. 1. 
O. mexicaunus dentatus, Raii Syn. p. 127. 
Saw-billed Pelican, Lath. Syn. vol. iii. pt. 2, p. 579 a. 
Pelecanus moline, G. R. Gray, Gen. of Birds, vol. iii. (1849) ; 
Sclat. Proc. Zool. Soc. (1868) p. 269. 
Hab. South America! 
As it is exceedingly uncertain what bird Molina meant when he 
wrote his description of Pelecanus thagus, and as it will not answer 
for any bird known to ornithologists at the present day, his name 
must become a synonym (although a doubtful one) of the present 
species, for which I have adopted the appellation bestowed upon it 
by Mr. Gray. 
It is evidently a very near ally of the more northern P. fuscus, 
differing chiefly in its larger size. 
Beside the two specimens in the British Museum, there is one 
immature in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and 
one in the Paris Museum. 
PELECANUS ERYTHRORHYNCHUS. 
Rough-billed Pelican, Lath. Syn. vol. ii. (1785) p. 586. 
Pelecanus erythrorhynchus, Gmel. Syst. Nat. (1788) vol. i. p. 571 ; 
Bonnat. Ency. Méth. Ornith. (1791) p. 44. 
P. trachyrhynchos, Lath. Ind. Ornith. p. 884. sp. 8; Gray, Gen. 
of Birds (1845), p. 309; Lichten. Abhandl. Akad. Wiss. Berl. 
(1838) t. 3. fig. 5; Steph. Shaw’s Gen. Zool. vol. xii. (1825) 
pt. 1, p. 117. 
Cryptopelicanus trachyrhynchus, Bon. Consp. Ay. vol. ii. (1865) 
p. 163. 
